MONTAGUE, Calif. — Mike
Adams didn’t mince words about his feelings on the removal
of four dams on the Klamath River.

“If this continues we
may be compelled to go beyond civil disobedience,” said
Adams, a Siskiyou County resident, referring to the proposed
plan to remove four dams on the Klamath River as part of two
water settlement agreements. “I don’t want to make threats …
but I feel like this is an attack on my livelihood.”

More than 50 people,
most who live on or near Copco Lake, packed into the Copco
Community Center for a meeting with state and federal
officials Thursday, yards from where the Klamath River flows
into the Northern California reservoir. Copco 1 and three
other dams along the river would be removed under the
Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, a plan created
in conjunction with the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement.

Almost all in attendance
were opposed to the KHSA and KBRA, and few hesitated to
voice their frustrations over dam removal during the
four-hour meeting with representatives from the U.S.
Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation and the California
Department of Fish and Game.

“We hear different
things in different parts of the Basin and it’s important
for us to listen to all of those concerns,” said Mark
Stopher, Environment Program Manager with the Department of
Fish and Game.

Clarence Waltner, who
has lived on the bank of Copco Lake for 10 years, was
outraged that the dams — which are privately owned by
PacifiCorp— would be
removed and costs would be passed on to ratepayers’
electricity bills.

“That’s like sending in
a bulldozer, bulldozing our homes, then sending us a bill
for the bulldozer,” he said.

Concerns

With the possible
removal of the dams and the subsequent drainage of Copco
Lake, many residents voiced concerns about sinking property
values, the possible drop in ground water levels and need to
deepen wells, changes in the flood plain around the river
and absence of a lake where fire-fighting aircraft can pick
up water. Some simply said they do not want to lose the
lakes they use and enjoy.

“Why would anyone in
their right mind want to spend millions of dollars to
destroy three or four places of beauty in this country?”
said Copco Lake resident Sue Brown.

Siskiyou County
residents have been predominately opposed to the KBRA and
KHSA. In a November advisory election, nearly 80 percent of
county voters said they did not want Klamath River dams
removed. Hanging above the panel of environmental agency
employees during the meeting was a large poster that read,
“For the good of the people that live and work in Siskiyou
County, vote ‘No’ on dam removal.”

Dennis Lynch, Program
Manager with the U.S. Geological Survey, said the meeting
was meant to inform locals about studies on the impacts of
dam removal conducted for the U.S. Secretary of the
Interior. Lynch said the studies are meant to answer three
questions: Can dam removal advance fisheries? Is it in the
best interest of the public? Can it be done for $450
million, the amount allocated in the KHSA?

“We’ve not
made definite plans,” Lynch said about dam removal. “We’re
trying to get information to the Secretary so he can say yes
or no — do or don’t go ahead with dam removal.”

Secretary of the
Interior Ken Salazar is expected to rule on the water
agreements in March 2012, Lynch said. The dam removal
process will begin in 2020 if the KHSA and KBRA are
implemented.

Side Bar

Property values are residents’ biggest concern

Copco Lake residents
have many concerns about a proposed dam removal plan that
would drain the reservoir. Foremost is the decline of
property values.

Dozens of homes dot the
banks of the Northern California reservoir. If the Klamath
Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement and the Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement are implemented, the Copco 1 dam would
be removed, the reservoir will be drained and the homes will
border an empty lake bed.

Siskiyou County Assessor
Mike Mallory said property values around the lake have been
declining for years, as speculation that the dam will be
removed has increased.

Copco Lake resident
Clarence Waltner said some of his neighbors have sold their
homes for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than they
paid. The 83-year-old said he will likely not sell even if
the lake is drained.

“I don’t know that it
makes a any difference to me if the dams come out, but I
would like to leave something for my children,” he said.

There are currently no
plans to reimburse property owners near Copco Lake, or two
other lakes on the Klamath River that would be drained if
dams are removed, but that compensation could be included in
the funding for dam removal later on, said Dennis Lynch,
Program Manager with the U.S. Geological Survey.

Part of the studies
analyzing the effects of dam removal currently being
conducted by a group of state and federal agencies focuses
on the decline of property values. That study compares
property values around the lake now to 2008.

Copco Lake residents say
the study is invalid because property values were falling
well before 2008.

Glenda Southard moved
from Sacramento and bought a home above Copco Lake in 2005,
when she said suspicion that dam removal was in the works
had already driven down prices. Property values continued to
fall in 2006, she said, when stories corroborating the plan
to remove the dam were published.

Southard repeatedly
voiced her frustrations about declining property values with
the panel of agency employees Thursday at a meeting about
possible dam removal.